Surgical correction of intractable epilepsy in children

Objective To analyze operative outcomes of children with intractable epilepsy. Methods Twenty five children with intractable epilepsy who underwent surgical intervention were reviewed.Results The children were between 3～14 years of ages. The average duration of epilepsy was 5.3 years. 9 children (36%)had abnormal MRI, 12 (48%) had low IQ and 16 (64%) had general tonic clonic seizures. Epileptogenic foci were located in the frontal lobe in 10 cases, temporal lobe in 6, fronto temporal lobe in 5, occipital lobe in 2 and parietal lobe 2 cases. Eleven patients (44%) underwent lesion resection or anterior temporal lobectomy, 4 (16%) underwent selective amygdalohippocampotomy, 15 (60%) had corpus callosotomy and 2 multiple subpial transection (MST) only. The complications included 4 transient paresis and 2 transient slurred speech. 23 patients (92%) had satisfactory results whereas 1 (4%) had noticeable improvements.Conclusions Good surgical results can be achieved in children with intractable epilepsy with few complication.